Giovinazzi tops opening day of Valencia test

Antonio Giovinazzi was fastest on the opening day of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship pre-season test around the Autodromo Ricardo Tormo in Valencia as thirty-four cars took to the track on Tuesday.

The Jagonya Ayam with Carlin driver, returning for a second season in the series with the team, beat a whole host of rookie drivers on the opening day of the test, with Carlin driver George Russell ending the day in second position.

More rookies followed, with Charles Leclerc third fastest for Van Amersfoort Racing ahead of Maximilian Gunther of Mücke Motorsport, while Alexander Albon was fifth for Signature.

Albon was the quickest driver during the afternoon session, but was not able to match Giovinazzi’s time from the morning.

Felix Rosenqvist, the most experienced driver in the series in 2015, was sixth fastest in his first official session as a Prema Powerteam driver, ahead another three rookies, with karting graduate Callum Ilott of Carlin seventh.

Arjun Maini of Van Amersfoort Racing was eighth and Mikkel Jenson of Mücke Motorsport ninth, while Sergio Sette Camara, who raced in the Imola round of the series in 2014, was tenth in the leading Motopark entry.

Fortec Motorsports only ran three of its four entries on the opening day, with Peter Li the unfortunate driver to miss out, although he will take over the car from team-mate Martin Cao on day two.

EuroInternational were only running one car for Nicolas Beer, with his team-mate Marvin Kirchhöfer in Portugal on GP3 Series duty, a series he will prioritise in 2015 over Formula 3.

Sean Gelael was back driving for Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, with the Indonesian driver set to compete in selected rounds of the series with the team when races do not clash with his Formula Renault 3.5 Series commitments.